Itchen Valley Amateur Radio Club has a long history of supporting Jamboree On The Air for local Scout groups, and this year was no different – except that we set up and operated stations for not one but two different Scout Groups!
On Friday 18th October, Ken G4DKH, Chris G7LWV, Martyn 2E0OGR and George M7FYO operated HF and VHF stations from the HQ of 12th Winchester Scout Group. After a short introductory talk about amateur radio, the over 40 Cubs and Scouts visited the stations and spent some time listening to the contacts. During the evening we contacted stations in all of the home countries (including the Channel Islands), as well as stations in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Slovenia, Norway and Denmark. We also contacted 4 other JOTA stations. The Cubs and Scouts were each given an opportunity to pass a short message and practice their use of the phonetic alphabet over the air. All in all, a very successful evening, and many thanks to all involved in organising, setting up and operating the station. Judging from the interest and questions asked by the Scouts, there may well be a few more Foundation licencees in Winchester in the next few years!
Colin G4GBP also organised a very successful event over the whole weekend, running special event station GB1ESG for the 1st Eynsham Scout Group, near Oxford (see Colin’s separate report in the “Club” section on the forum). Not only did Colin set up and operate the JOTA station, he also organised a series of communications related activities over the weekend, including laptops for JOTI (Jamboree Over The Internet), morse buzzer practice, a telephone switchboard with extension phones (one of which was an old-style rotary dial phone!), secret cypher coding and decoding, secret writing with invisible ink, cup-and-string phones, and designing QSL cards. Over 70 youngsters (and their Leaders) thoroughly enjoyed the event, which was a great success.
There can’t be too many radio clubs in the country running separate JOTA activities for two different Scout Groups! I’m sure that there will be plenty of interest next year, so keep the third weekend in October 2025 free and join in the fun!
On Friday 18th October, Ken G4DKH, Chris G7LWV, Martyn 2E0OGR and George M7FYO operated HF and VHF stations from the HQ of 12th Winchester Scout Group. After a short introductory talk about amateur radio, the over 40 Cubs and Scouts visited the stations and spent some time listening to the contacts. During the evening we contacted stations in all of the home countries (including the Channel Islands), as well as stations in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Slovenia, Norway and Denmark. We also contacted 4 other JOTA stations. The Cubs and Scouts were each given an opportunity to pass a short message and practice their use of the phonetic alphabet over the air. All in all, a very successful evening, and many thanks to all involved in organising, setting up and operating the station. Judging from the interest and questions asked by the Scouts, there may well be a few more Foundation licencees in Winchester in the next few years!
Colin G4GBP also organised a very successful event over the whole weekend, running special event station GB1ESG for the 1st Eynsham Scout Group, near Oxford (see Colin’s separate report in the “Club” section on the forum). Not only did Colin set up and operate the JOTA station, he also organised a series of communications related activities over the weekend, including laptops for JOTI (Jamboree Over The Internet), morse buzzer practice, a telephone switchboard with extension phones (one of which was an old-style rotary dial phone!), secret cypher coding and decoding, secret writing with invisible ink, cup-and-string phones, and designing QSL cards. Over 70 youngsters (and their Leaders) thoroughly enjoyed the event, which was a great success.
There can’t be too many radio clubs in the country running separate JOTA activities for two different Scout Groups! I’m sure that there will be plenty of interest next year, so keep the third weekend in October 2025 free and join in the fun!
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